Rubin Hermann had to sit on the sidelines and watch his younger brother Jordan rip up SA20 for the first two seasons.
For any “Ou Boet” that must have been difficult waiting in the wings, especially with Jordan going on to be crowned a SA20 champion two years in a row with the Sunrisers Eastern Cape whilst being hailed as “the next big thing” in South African cricket by none other than Proteas legend AB de Villiers.
Instead of moping around feeling sorry for himself, Rubin knew the only way for him to gain entry into the SA20 was by banging the door down domestically. And that’s exactly what he did by smashing 436 runs at an average of 39.63 for the North West Dragons in the CSA T20 Challenge.
It placed Rubin fourth on the national run-scorers list even though he played a couple of games less than his contemporaries Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickelton and Reeza Hendricks. It was almost 100 runs more than Jordan’s 349.
Rubin was now in exalted company and even boasted the highest strike rate of 145.33 for all the batters that had passed 400 runs in the competition.
It did not go unnoticed with Rubin finally getting his SA20 break when the Paarl Royals picked him up at the auction with the Hermann family now torn between orange and pink.
“It's a nice rivalry. But in the right way if it makes sense. We compete hard on the field when we play against each other. We hope we do well in the right ways,” Rubin said.
“I won't even say a rivalry. We both hope the other person does well.
“We chat a lot but we try not to get too much into each other's faces before the games. Especially before we play each other.
“Obviously, we trust each other. We know the other person, know what they're doing. We're quite chilled. Obviously we speak and bounce against each other a lot.
“It's been awesome. I've been champing at the bit and now I'm here.
“I've always wanting to get more opportunity. Finally I got a season where I've managed to impress some people to get my selection at the auction.”
Rubin has certainly made the most of his opportunity when it eventually came. After sitting out the first couple of games, the 27-year-old was drafted into the Royals starting XI against the Pretoria Capitals at Centurion.
It’s a ground Rubin knew well having started his professional career at the Titans, and the familiarity showed as he struck a sparkling 56 off just 33 balls (5x4, 3x6) to play a major role in the Royals’ brilliant chase.
He followed it up with another quickfire 19 off 15 balls (1x4x 1x6) on home debut at Boland Park, but was unfortunately undone trying to force the pace with a reverse-sweep against the wily Imran Tahir.
Rubin’s adaptation to SA20 has certainly been aided by batting with England legend Joe Root for the majority of his time at the crease. The pair compiled a match-winning 125-run partnership against the Capitals.
“It's easy for your mind to race when you haven't been in a situation before per se. Obviously, domestically but nothing on this stage yet,” Rubin said.
“To play with someone like that just to calm you down. Keep you in it. He (Root) also backs you so much. He knows you're here for a reason. He just basically allows you to play with freedom which is so nice.
“He has small chats with you. It's tough to remember now because you're in the moment.
“You take it in but you don't really remember because you're just seriously focused. But he's got small things he comes to you and says, ‘boss, you got this’ and ‘keep playing your game’ and stuff like that.
“There is his aura as well. He's such a calm, cool character. I think it just rubs off on you as well.”
Hermann and the Royals, who are currently topping the SA table after an unbeaten start at home, will be hoping to continue their momentum on Thursday evening when they face a desperate Durban’s Super Giants team at Kingsmead.
“You always try to win your home games. Make it tough for teams to come play at Boland Park,” he said. “Obviously, away wins are awesome and we’ll take that any day.”